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Coltur Vilcabamba Expedition: The meeting

As many of you will recall, COLTUR Peru co-funded and participated in the expedition Coltur Vilcabamba Expedition 2013 led by Peter Frost to explore the hinterland of Choquequirao, a major palatial complex overlooking the Apurimac and Yanama Rivers in the Vilcabamba region of the Andes. Despite Choquequirao´s status as a prominent Inca site, its context and place in a larger settlement pattern in the region are as yet poorly understood.

During mid-January, I had the pleasure to accompany Peter and archaeologist Kevin Floerke to the presentation of this project at the prestigious Institute of Andean Studies´ 2014 annual meeting, held at the University of California at Berkeley.

Peter and Kevin´s presence in this event was aimed at making our findings so far known to the world of Andean scholarship, and having the project gain traction in academic circles. Peter has already led a series of exploratory expeditions to this area that resulted in a significant amount of findings of previously unrecorded Inca sites, and strongly believes that it is now time to start conducting formal excavations and studies that will allow for a better and deeper understanding of Choquequirao, its surrounding area and its place and importance in Inca history.

COLTUR Peru´s commitment to this project is long term, and I will personally keep you updated of how events unfold.